I own a slightly bent 78 E-150. Basically my neighbor ran a suburban into the driver side wheel while it was parked. The Fender and Bumper is easily replaced.
But... Now it is eating the outer tread off said tire, in a saw tooth pattern that says bent I-beam. The van also wanders a lot, and there is more play in the steering.
Bending the I-beam Having been there and done that, a few years ago I had to get the passenger I-beam "straightened" after Comcast pulled a hit and run in my driveway. The long and short of this was that I eventually got it fixed after the third trip to the alignment and tire shop.
Replacing the front suspension While I have had no luck finding a decent E-150 on craigs list, I have found a few vans that had good king pin front ends. So I could deliver it to the shop with a complete front end and pay for the six hours for it to be installed, adjusted, driven and adjusted again. What years and models [E-100..E-350] have the same I-beams, spindles steering gear boxes, etc.?
Replacing the van. Having looked at a lot of junk on Craigs list, and driven some of it, I can say that my 78 with half a million miles on it is better than all of them so far. Does someone have a similar E-150 or E-150 body, frame and suspension in the northwest?
The catch is that I'm allergic to automatic transmissions, having had a car with an automatic try to kill me on the continental divide, when I was 17. So if I find a mint E-150, with a C6, I will end up converting it to the 3 speed overdrive [4 speed manual]. If I replace the van, I may have to do this since almost all of them seem to be automatics.
The biggest headache is that I am in the middle of major home renovations and don't have time to waste. I also am really missing one of my most reliable tools, second only to the Milwaukee Sawzall.
Thanks for your time. David